Squarely blaming the state government for the Krishna river tragedy, the Kapu leader said that 30 people died during the Godavari Pushkarams while 22 died in the boat tragedy now. "Instead of allocating precious police resources to crush the Kapu agitation, Chandrababu should post those police personnel at public gatherings such as Pushkarams and at Krishna river banks where the boat tragedy took place," he said. Reiterating that Kapus should be included in the Backward Class category, Mudragada said his padayatra was thwarted by posting police personnel in unusually large numbers who could have easily saved lives in the boat tragedy.